If last week’s show was the most anticipated TNA event EVER…then the finish to the main event was the most hated finish in TNA EVER. I don’t know who is to blame for it…but they should be punished. Was it because Raven wouldn’t sign a new contract? Was it because Jerry wants his son to be unbeatable? Was it because Russo wanted Raven to win and Jeff vetoed it in their ongoing power struggle? I don’t care. I’m a fan…and I got screwed. TNA blew an opportunity to prove to a larger audience that they are something different. The rest of the show was fun as hell. Daniels and Lynn did as much as they could in 7 minutes to put on a show. Styles and D-Lo beat Siaki and Young in a very good match. Other than the stupid Lollipop vs. whoever segment the show was very strong. Then the much-anticipated Raven vs. Jarrett match burned down a bridge that won’t soon be repaired. They hate you Jeff. Outside of the Nashville crowd (the ones who weren’t throwing shit at you) they all hate you. It’s not even because you won the match. Hell…I suggested in my preview last week that the best route for Raven’s character was to have his destiny go unfulfilled. No…it wasn’t winning the match that really pissed everyone off, Jeff. It was the way in which the match went down. Surviving the beating that you took at the hands of how many people…all while handcuffed. It’s bullshit, plain and simple. If this match was supposed to be about tradition vs. sports entertainment…then it wasn’t as unbelievable to have the face fight off all comers to have tradition finally prevail…but it wasn’t about that…somewhere along the way that all got thrown off track. This match was about Raven’s destiny…and unless I’m mistake Jarrett hadn’t even been playing the face in recent weeks. He was a tweener…like everyone inevitably becomes when Russo writes. So we were presented with a tweener against a heel with a face’s storyline in an overbooked match with the wrong man going over by the time all the beatings were handed out. I lay the blame at the feet of every single person who had his fingerprints on that match. Jeff, Jerry, Raven, Russo. I guess I’m a little slow on the uptake here. People have been telling me for months that this wouldn’t work out. The problem isn’t egos like it is in the WWE…the problem is there are too many hands in the cookie jar. I just can’t believe it was held together long enough to fall apart in the last minute of the most important day of the year for this company. I’m sure there was a speech given at some point to the rest of the locker room explaining the importance of that day. In that speech I’ll bet those people were asked to step up and show what they were made of. Well…they did that…and they should be proud. It’s a shame that they were let down just like the rest of us.

This is the Preview for NWA TNA Week 43. Or as it will now be referred to:

Week 1 of the NWA TNA Reconstruction.

Before I, or anyone else can buy that another match is “bigger” than the rest…or “more anticipated” than the rest…TNA needs to rebuild trust.

So begins the reconstruction of Total NonStop Action.

Anarchy in the Asylum

This is an interesting concept for a match. Try to follow this: There will be 15 men in this match. We begin with 2 and a new person enters every 90 seconds. A competitor can be eliminated by being thrown over the top rope, by pinfall or by submission. Oh…and falls count anywhere and people can use any weapons they want. When we get down to the final two competitors…they will face off in a regular match where pins and submissions only count in the ring.

We have no idea who these 15 people will be. Last week they said that champions from ECW, WCW, WWE, Mexico, Japan and England would be involved. It looks pretty…but it doesn’t actually tell you anything. In fact…you could probably come up with about 3 names and they’d fill all of those requirements. Actually I lied…we kind of do know who 4 of the 15 people will be…but more on that in a bit.

The purpose of this match is to crown a new #1 contender…since Jarrett has already dispatched off all the top challengers. For the record those people would be: Ron Killings, AJ Styles, D-Lo Brown and Raven. I think that guys like Saturn and Jerry Lynn would make good challengers at any time too…but that hasn’t materialized yet.

There’s really no way to try and predict this thing. It’s a take off on the gauntlet for the gold, which is basically the same thing only it’s a straight battle royal until the final two people. This should be pretty wild.

Although we don’t know any of the 15 entrants into this match…we do know that there will be three matches on the show to determine who will get to be in the Anarchy in the Asylum match.

AJ Styles and D-Lo Brown vs. Low Ki and Elix Skipper

This is one of those matches. The winning team will fill two of the slots for the Anarchy match. At first glance you would think that Styles and Brown have this locked up…but TNA knows we think that so it’s always possible for them to mess with us. Hey…Low Ki is back! Last week’s show had a very good Styles and Brown vs. Siaki and Young match…so this match certainly shouldn’t disappoint. I’m interested to see how Brown keeps up in this match. He certainly did last week…but Siaki works more of a slower paced style anyway. This time the other three are quick as hell.

Sabu vs. New Jack vs. Sandman

The winner of this match will also be entered into the Anarchy match. You know what this will look like. The only difference is that Sabu will jump around and kill himself. I don’t think that’s a bad thing…Sabu still entertains me.

Chris Harris vs. James Storm

AMERICA’S MOST WANTED EXPLODE!!!! This is the last of the qualification matches. I will give TNA credit for this: They’ve taken a storyline, a potentially good match and their weekly hardcore garbage match and given them an extra purpose this week. I’m pretty sure that Styles and Brown will win their match…and I’m pretty sure either Sabu or Sandman will win their match…but I have no idea who will win this one. The bigger question here is how good the match turns out to be. They obviously know each other very well so one would think they would have a good game plan going in. Let me put it this way…if this match is bad then AMW can never be broken up because they probably won’t have better singles matches against anyone else. Well…maybe against guys like Daniels or Low Ki or Styles…but not in the heavyweight division. This should be interesting to watch for a few reasons: Who wins? How does the loser react? How is the breakup storyline furthered? How good is the match?

Christopher Daniels vs. Jerry Lynn and Red

This is for the NWA tag team titles held by Lynn and Red. Last week’s Lynn vs. Daniels match was to determine whether this match would be all three members of XXX getting the title shot…or just one. Obviously Daniels lost. As a general rule I hate handicap matches. That made me think though…I usually hate handicap matches because they usually involve someone like Big Show squashing two people. This one involves Daniels in the ring at all times against two top X division guys. I’ll take it. I don’t know if he can win the title…but since Red is already X champion…I guess it is possible.

There’s really no point in going over who isn’t on the card since they could all be in the Anarchy match for all we know.

I like the look of this week’s card…hopefully it delivers like last weeks…minus the ending.